RCFN Week of Prayer
This year’s theme for the River City Faith Network’s Week of Prayer is Into the Neighborhood. The first Camp Alkulana neighborhood was the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond, where we recruited campers from our House of Happiness Goodwill Center. In the 108 year history of camp, our “neighborhood” has grown to include all of the city of Richmond, Henrico County, Chesterfield County, Hanover County, and if you include our alumni and their families, all of Virginia and all over the United States.
This year we are working to broaden our reach into our neighborhood, and perhaps your neighborhood, by finding new partners and strengthening relationships with old ones.
This spring, our intern Eric Paz worked with Wesley Garrett to take information about Camp Alkulana to many of the Spanish speaking families who have been a part of the South Richmond Center’s Christmas Store.
During the holiday season, we partnered with Jennifer Turner at the Oregon Hill Center, and Tabernacle Baptist Church to provide Thanksgiving and Christmas meals for several of our camper families. And at Christmas time, several of our camper familiesreceived gifts for their children, their camper and non camper children, through the Christmas Store of the Oregon Hill Center
In October, we hosted a family event at the Belmont Golf Course where camper families and church members came together for a day of golf.
Camp information and our registration link have been shared with all of the Title 1 schools in the Richmond area, through school counselors and the organization Communities in Schools.
The Alkulana Peer Program (APP), under the leadership of Kate Wakeland, our intern and a counselor, has met with former campers throughout the year to build leadership skills, visit local museums, churches, and parks. They also partnered with local experts at Challenge Discovery to work on team-building skills.
The Alkulana RVA (ARVA) program, under the leadership of our VCU intern Eric Paz, and a variety of camp counselors have met throughout the year at Skipwith Baptist Church to maintain relationships between campers, to play games that are fun, and work on cooperation and team building. We bring some of Camp to Richmond each school-year. We even have a campfire around which we sing and make s’mores.
In May we’re hosting a cookout in Bryan Park and inviting churches partners and all of our camper families to come together and “Spring into Summer” with us.
We are enjoying going into the neighborhood. It brings us joy when the campers of Camp Alkulana come from so many different neighborhoods. If you want to share your neighborhood With us we would love to talk to you. we are always looking for campers, volunteers, and partners in this good Work.
Check out this video produced by the River City Faith Network about Camp Alkulana
View the entire May newsletter this article came from at this link.